IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v209y2023ics092180092300099x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green securities policy and the environmental performance of firms: Assessing the impact of China's pre-IPO environmental inspection policy

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Shanshan
  • Zhang, Jing
  • Elliott, Robert J.R.

Abstract

China has experimented with a wide range of policies to encourage firms to improve their environmental performance, often with mixed results. This paper investigates the effectiveness of combining two different policies at the same time: (1) a more centralised environmental inspection process and (2) new rules on the public disclosure of policy compliance for firms wanting to undertake an initial public offering (IPO). A theoretical framework predicts that a more centralised inspection and public disclosure should improve both a firm's environmental performance and profitability. The results of instrumental variable estimations for 536 listed Chinese firms for the period 2009 to 2019 confirm the theoretical predictions although the positive effect on profitability only lasts for two years after compliance with the IPO requirements. An investigation into possible mechanisms shows that the joint policy promotes investment in green projects while also increasing demand for the firm's products. The findings highlight greater regulatory complexity may be needed if a country wishes to change the behaviour of firms in a manner that is consistent with overcoming environmental challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Shanshan & Zhang, Jing & Elliott, Robert J.R., 2023. "Green securities policy and the environmental performance of firms: Assessing the impact of China's pre-IPO environmental inspection policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:209:y:2023:i:c:s092180092300099x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107836
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180092300099X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107836?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dasgupta, Susmita & Hong, Jong Ho & Laplante, Benoit & Mamingi, Nlandu, 2006. "Disclosure of environmental violations and stock market in the Republic of Korea," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 759-777, July.
    2. Zhang, Bing & Chen, Xiaolan & Guo, Huanxiu, 2018. "Does central supervision enhance local environmental enforcement? Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 70-90.
    3. García, Jorge H. & Sterner, Thomas & Afsah, Shakeb, 2007. "Public disclosure of industrial pollution: the PROPER approach for Indonesia?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(6), pages 739-756, December.
    4. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2009. "Alternative Approaches to Evaluation in Empirical Microeconomics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    5. Jin, Yi & Gao, Xiaoyan & Wang, Min, 2021. "The financing efficiency of listed energy conservation and environmental protection firms: Evidence and implications for green finance in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    6. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2009. "Bank governance, regulation and risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 259-275, August.
    7. Terza, Joseph V. & Basu, Anirban & Rathouz, Paul J., 2008. "Two-stage residual inclusion estimation: Addressing endogeneity in health econometric modeling," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 531-543, May.
    8. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    9. Hua Wang & Nlandu Mamingi & Benoit Laplante & Susmita Dasgupta, 2003. "Incomplete Enforcement of Pollution Regulation: Bargaining Power of Chinese Factories," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(3), pages 245-262, March.
    10. Lanoie, Paul & Laplante, Benoit & Roy, Maite, 1998. "Can capital markets create incentives for pollution control?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 31-41, July.
    11. Gupta, Shreekant & Goldar, Bishwanath, 2005. "Do stock markets penalize environment-unfriendly behaviour? Evidence from India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 81-95, January.
    12. Yao, Shouyu & Pan, Yuying & Sensoy, Ahmet & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Green credit policy and firm performance: What we learn from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    13. Bouwe R. Dijkstra & Per G. Fredriksson, 2010. "Regulatory Environmental Federalism," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 319-339, October.
    14. Fisman, Raymond & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Are corruption and taxation really harmful to growth? Firm level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 63-75, May.
    15. Han, Chao & Tian, Xian-Liang, 2022. "Less pollution under a more centralized environmental system: Evidence from vertical environmental reforms in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    16. Sengupta, Aditi, 2012. "Investment in cleaner technology and signaling distortions in a market with green consumers," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 468-480.
    17. Jeni Klugman & Francisco Rodríguez & Hyung-Jin Choi, 2011. "The HDI 2010: new controversies, old critiques," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(2), pages 249-288, June.
    18. Li, Yuanpeng & Shi, Haina & Zhou, Yi, 2021. "The influence of the media on government decisions: Evidence from IPOs in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Jiang, Liangliang & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping, 2014. "The determinants of pollution levels: Firm-level evidence from Chinese manufacturing," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 118-142.
    20. Lori Bennear & Robert Stavins, 2007. "Second-best theory and the use of multiple policy instruments," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(1), pages 111-129, May.
    21. Xing, Chao & Zhang, Yuming & Tripe, David, 2021. "Green credit policy and corporate access to bank loans in China: The role of environmental disclosure and green innovation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    22. Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Song, Frank, 2010. "Property rights protection and corporate R&D: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 49-62, September.
    23. Foulon, Jerome & Lanoie, Paul & Laplante, Benoit, 2002. "Incentives for Pollution Control: Regulation or Information?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 169-187, July.
    24. Chunyang Wang & Haiyang Zhang & Liping Lu & Xirui Wang & Ziyu Song, 2019. "Pollution and corporate valuation: evidence from China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(32), pages 3516-3530, July.
    25. Paul Lehmann, 2012. "Justifying A Policy Mix For Pollution Control: A Review Of Economic Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 71-97, February.
    26. De Loecker, Jan, 2007. "Do exports generate higher productivity? Evidence from Slovenia," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 69-98, September.
    27. Liu, Chenhao & Kong, Dongmin, 2021. "Does political incentive shape governments' disclosure of air pollution information?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    28. Rogge, Karoline S. & Reichardt, Kristin, 2016. "Policy mixes for sustainability transitions: An extended concept and framework for analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1620-1635.
    29. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    30. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2015. "Control Function Methods in Applied Econometrics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 420-445.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Xu & Wang, Pengmian & Xu, Qiuxiang, 2024. "Corporate environmental governance under the coordination of fiscal and financial policies: The case of green credit subsidy policy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Garcia, Jorge H. & Afsah, Shakeb & Sterner, Thomas, 2008. "What Kinds of Firms Are More Sensitive to Public Disclosure Programs for Pollution Control? The Case of Indonesia’s PROPER Program," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-12-efd, Resources for the Future.
    2. Nicholas Powers & Allen Blackman & Thomas Lyon & Urvashi Narain, 2011. "Does Disclosure Reduce Pollution? Evidence from India’s Green Rating Project," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 50(1), pages 131-155, September.
    3. Blackman, Allen, 2009. "Alternative Pollution Control Policies in Developing Countries: Informal, Informational, and Voluntary," RFF Working Paper Series dp-09-10, Resources for the Future.
    4. Jorge García & Shakeb Afsah & Thomas Sterner, 2009. "Which Firms are More Sensitive to Public Disclosure Schemes for Pollution Control? Evidence from Indonesia’s PROPER Program," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 42(2), pages 151-168, February.
    5. Nicholas, Powers & Blackman, Allen & Lyon, Thomas P. & Narain, Urvashi, 2008. "Does Disclosure Reduce Pollution? Evidence from India’s Green Rating Project," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-27-efd, Resources for the Future.
    6. Ruiqian Li & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan & Guanghua Xu, 2023. "The impact of penalties for environmental violations on corporate environmental responsibility," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1343-1363, June.
    7. Han, Chao & Tian, Xian-Liang, 2022. "Less pollution under a more centralized environmental system: Evidence from vertical environmental reforms in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    8. Chi, Guodong & Liu, Yuanyuan & Fang, Hong, 2024. "Does environmental management system reform improve air quality? Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 45-62.
    9. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "How the Market Values Greenwashing? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 547-574, May.
    10. Bhardwaj, Chandan & Axsen, Jonn & Kern, Florian & McCollum, David, 2020. "Why have multiple climate policies for light-duty vehicles? Policy mix rationales, interactions and research gaps," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 309-326.
    11. Shreekant Gupta & Bishwanath Goldar & Shubham Dang, 2019. "Environmental Performance And Capital Markets--Evidence From India," Working papers 303, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    12. Chen, Tao, 2015. "Institutions, board structure, and corporate performance: Evidence from Chinese firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 217-237.
    13. Botor, Benjamin & Böcker, Benjamin & Kallabis, Thomas & Weber, Christoph, 2021. "Information shocks and profitability risks for power plant investments – impacts of policy instruments," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    14. Tan, Jing & Liu, Tianyi & Xu, Hao, 2024. "The environmental and economic consequences of environmental centralization: Evidence from China's environmental vertical management reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    15. Zhang Wei & Li Ji, 2017. "Weak Law v. Strong Ties: An Empirical Study of Business Investment, Law and Political Connections in China," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-45, March.
    16. Liu, Shaohui & Liu, Chuanjiang & Yang, Mian, 2022. "Greening of Chinese industrial sector: Stakeholders' responsiveness to non-governmental environmental monitoring," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    17. Qi, Minhao & Liu, Yuxin & Hu, Changlong & Yang, Zhijiu, 2024. "The unintended consequence of environmental centralization: Evidence from firm financialization," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    18. Oberndorfer, Ulrich & Ulbricht, Dirk, 2007. "Lost in Transmission? Stock Market Impacts of the 2006 European Gas Crisis," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-030, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Zhang, Wenyue & Ke, Jinjun & Sun, Chuanwang, 2024. "Green innovation of heavily polluting enterprises under environmental liability insurance: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    20. Yalin Zhou & Jing Cao & Yujia Feng, 2021. "Stock Market Reactions to Pollution Information Disclosure: New Evidence from the Pollution Blacklist Program in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental regulations; Centralisation; Firm performance; Public disclosure; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:209:y:2023:i:c:s092180092300099x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.